New Beginnings
by scatterthewords
Summary: Rose worries that she no longer belongs on the TARDIS when she meets the Doctor's new companions. Eleven/Rose. Amy/Rory. Sequel to The Short Straw.


Hello everyone! Alright, bit of an introduction! I was absolutely blown away by the response to The Short Straw. That story was completed almost a year ago, and I am still getting requests for a sequel. Since I'm in college full time I don't really have time to write a full length fic, so instead I'll be writing one-shots of Rose and Eleven's time in the TARDIS. I'll be writing them whenever I get the chance, so keep an eye out for them! This is just an introductory one-shot for this verse.

Thank you all so much, and I hope I don't disappoint!

-Rach

The Doctor didn't know what he was expecting, having Rose back in the TARDIS. He knew it wouldn't be easy; not straight away, anyway.

Watching Rose leave her family for the second time had been the most difficult bit. Pete had bargained with her, offering her this that and the other to make her stay in their world. Tony had cried. Rose had cried with him, wrapping her arms around his tiny body and sobbing into his jumper. The Doctor had felt sorry for Tony. He had lost the metacrisis Doctor, someone he loved like family. Now he was losing his sister. And it was the Doctor's fault.

But the worst had been Jackie. She had just accepted that Rose was leaving with a quiet resignation, helping her pack her things and asking no questions. The Doctor thought she had always known Rose would leave again. The thrill of adventure was too much, and one world was too small for Rose Tyler.

Rose didn't properly explain to them what had happened to the metacrisis Doctor, but she had told her them that he had died saving the world.

Jackie had just replied "fitting," but something broke in jackie and the Doctor saw it.

As the two stood outside the TARDIS and Rose gave her family one last hug, the Doctor almost ran in the doors of the blue box and took off without her, forcing her to stay in Pete's World. It would have been best for her, and less hurtful for the people she was leaving behind, he knew that. But his selfishness was too much, and instead he just looked at the ground as Rose Tyler saw her family for the last time.

The journey back to the other universe was bumpy, only possible because of the rip that had been made when the TARDIS fell out of the vortex all those months ago. For a few blissful moments, it was just like old times. They had clung to the console for dear life as the TARDIS shook dangerously around them. Rose had even given out a shriek of laughter as the turbulence knocked her to the ground.

But all too quickly it was over. The TARDIS was quiet and still, and Rose was standing among her luggage, memories of a life she was leaving behind, an unreadable expression on her face.

The Doctor moved quickly over to her, sweeping her up into a hug. After a moment of hesitation, she hugged him back, resting her head on his shoulder.

"It will get better," he murmered. "I promise you that."

Rose nodded and pulled back. The Doctor loosened his grip on her, his arms falling to her sides. His hearts were pounding at double their usual speed. He looked into her eyes, his face so close to his.

"Rose." he started.

"Doctor!"

A loud voice broke into his thoughts, and he glanced towards the TARDIS doors in shock. A familiar red haired woman had burst into his ship, her arms crossed.

"Amy!" he cried, and he'd be lying if he said all he was thinking about was Rose at that moment. He moved away from her quickly and bounded down the steps as Rory stepped through the doors. "And Rory! Oh, my lovely Ponds! How've you been?"

"How have we been?" Amy retorted as the doctor scooped her into a bone crushing hug. "We've been worried sick, that's how we've been. You disappear for months, without even a phone call!"

"Oh, don't worry about me," the Doctor replied cheerfully as he pulled rory in for a hug and a quick ruffle of his hair. "I've been fine, you know me. Did I land outside your house, then?"

"Obviously not on purpose," Rory muttered as he pushed the Doctor away with a swift pat on the back.

"I'm offended," Amy added, but she was smiling.

The Doctor grinned, ridiculously happy to see his two companions again. "Oh, you know I would have come visit you eventually. I've just been-"

He suddenly remembered Rose, and his face fell slightly. He spun around to see the blonde surveying the scene in front of her warily.

"Ponds, this is Rose," he said, gesturing towards her.

He wasn't sure how he should introduce her. "An old companion" seemed too little. "The love of my lives" seemed far too much. Especially as he wasn't sure how she felt about him. She had just lost her Doctor, for Rasillons sake. They still had a lot of things to sort out. Now that he thought about it, this probably wasn't a great time for the Ponds to make a reappearance on the TARDIS. He could only imagine how uncomfortable Rose was feeling. Brand new TARDIS, brand new face, two new companions. But he couldn't push the Ponds off the tardis, either. They meant far too much to him to do that.

"Rose, this is Amy and Rory Pond."

"Williams," Rory said in exasperation.

Amy shot the Doctor an odd look, but it was gone in a second and she took a step forward, smiling at Rose. "Welcome on board the TARDIS," she said with a smile.

Rose gave a smile back. She could have said that she used to know this machine like the back of her hand, had spent countless nights exploring the corridors with a skinny guy in a suit, but she didn't. Instead, she outstretched her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

Rose's smile was forced as she shook Amy and Rory's hands, avoiding meeting the Doctor's eye. Her stomach felt as heavy as lead. Not for the first time since entering the blue box again, she wondered if she was making the right decision. Not that she could turn back now. The rip they had travelled through to get back to this universe had closed again, sealing Jackie, Pete and Tony on the other side. She was here for good, with a man she was almost certain had taken her with him out of guilt. And now she was meeting his new companions.

Of course he had new companions, she scolded herself. She couldn't expect him to travel on his own. And they were the Ponds. That explained where his name in Pete's World had come from. They must really mean a lot to him if their names had pierced through the fog the watch had created.

"Well?"

Rose blinked. "What?"

The Doctor was smiling but his eyes were concerned. "I said, where do you want to go? The TARDIS was stationary for ages, she needs to go somewhere. Any preferences?"

"Oh," Rose said, her voice faltering. "Um, I think I'm just going to go to bed for a bit if that's alright. Tired, you know."

She tried not to see the hurt in his eyes as he nodded, rubbing his hands together. "Of course, of course. One more day won't hurt, eh, old girl?" he said, slapping the console fondly.

The TARDIS hummed in response and he let out a laugh.

Even the TARDIS was different. How long had it been for him since she had travelled with him? The machine's interior could have changed hundreds of times since. She was suddenly hit with the most horrible thought- _she didn't belong here anymore_.

Panic seized her, and she gathered up her bags quickly, needing to get out of this room as quick as possible. She blurted out a goodnight and traipsed up the stairs as fast as she could, dragging her bags behind her.

There was silence in the console room. The Doctor was staring after Rose with a frown on his face. If he had felt guilty before this, it was nothing to how he felt now. He could see the pain Rose was feeling but could do nothing to help.

Amy Pond wasn't ignorant. She knew the months he hadn't been in contact with her or Rory had not been easy. Something had happened. Something big. And now there was a strange new girl on the TARDIS who looked like she had had her whole world torn from her. Something was up.

"I'll help her find a spare room," Amy announced, giving her husband a look that he understood to mean "you stay with him, make sure he stays here".

She bounded up the stairs after the blonde woman before the Doctor could say anything, leaving him alone in the console room with rory.

"Amy!" The Doctor called after her, making a motion like he was about to follow her. Rory grabbed his arm, knowing Amy had meant for the doctor to stay here so she could talk to Rose on her own.

"What, Rory?" The Doctor said, looking a little impatient.

"Nothing, er, just-" Rory's mind grasped for something to say. "Ever been to the Bahamas?"

It wasn't the best thing he could have come up with, but it distracted the Doctor, and that was enough for Rory.

"Have I ever what?" The Doctor said, looking confused.

"The Bahamas, you know," Rory fumbled ith his words. "Big blue box, all of time and space. You could go to the Bahamas. The Bahamas are nice."

The Doctor was looking at Rory as though he had grown another head. "Or, um. Bristol. We could go to Bristol."

* * *

Rose walked quietly down the vast corridors of the TARDIS, keeping an eye out for her door. The TARDIS has changed immensely since the last time she had been here, but she knew her room would still be here. She wasn't lost, either. It was like the ship was directing her where to go. She had never been in here before but she somehow knew the way. At last, she stood outside the green door that lead to her bedroom. She hesitated outside it for a moment. It still felt so odd to be back. There was still that lingering sense that she didn't belong here anymore, that the universe had gone on without her. Maybe later she'd ask the Doctor to drop her back in modern day London. She knew Mickey was back in this universe, and maybe she could find Sarah Jane Smith.

Either way, she thought she'd feel more comfortable there than here.

Rose reached for the handle of the door, but before she could open it, she heard a voice coming up the hallway.

"Hey! Er, Rose, was it?"

Rose turned around to Amy coming up the corridor.

"Amy," Rose said with a smile. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just thought I'd help you find a room," Amy replied.

"Oh, well-" Rose gestured to the door.

"Oh, no, not that one. The Doctor will go mental. I think there's a spare up here somewhere."

Rose frowned, looking at the green door. "Why not this one?"

"The Doctor is very tetchy about this room. I tried to go in it once when I first started travelling with him and he threw a fit. Almost thought he was going to kick me out," Amy said, laughing. "Rory knows to stay away from it, too. Do you want to keep looking?"

Rose didn't answer. She didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. Amy Pond didn't even recognise her name, but The Doctor had protected Rose's bedroom from his friends, from people he trusted unconditionally.

"Did he say why you should keep away from it?" Rose whispered.

Amy shook her head. "No, but I think it's something to do with his old home planet, Galiffrey. He had the same look about him as when he talks about that lot."

Now Rose was laughing, though she didn't know why.

"What's wrong?" Amy frowned, giving her a weird look.

"This is my bedroom," Rose said, now feeling tears coming to her eyes. "My old room from when I travelled with The Doctor. This is my room."

* * *

The Doctor was in the middle of explaining why he would rather see other parts of the universe rather than Bristol when Amy returned.

"Alright Doctor, who is she?"

Rose Tyler stood in her bedroom in the TARDIS for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. Nothing had changed. A half empty bottle of perfume sat on her dresser. A jumper was flung over her chair. Her bed was unmade. Photographs were seloptaped to the head of her bed. A teenagers bedroom. Untouched, since the day she became trapped. She studied the photographs now. Mickey was in a few of them. Her mum. The Doctor with his blue eyes and leather jacket, her first Doctor. Her and the Doctor at Christmas dinner the day he had regenerated into the skinny bloke in a suit.

She had brought some more photographs with her from her other life, of Tony and Pete and herself and her Doctor. They would fit perfectly here, she thought.

_She_ would fit perfectly here.

She always had, and she always would. This was her home.

_Just as it should be_, a man had once said. A man she had loved. A man she loved still.

Being back here made her feel nineteen years old again, a shop girl going to see the universe with a man in a box. How had she ever thought she didn't belong here? Yes, he had changed. So had she. But the dynamics remained the same. She still needed him. Something within her told her that he needed her, too. Why else would he have preserved her room like this?

She knew this is what her Doctor would have wanted for her, but what use would it have been if she didn't want it for herself? The feeling of not belonging was fading fast, being replaced by a sense of joy she had not felt in a long time.

"I'm home," she whispered.

The TARDIS hummed in reply and the lights in her room brightened.

* * *

When Rose stepped into the console room again she knew the Doctor had told Amy and Rory about her. They were looking at her differently, their eyes wide and their mouths set in hard lines. There was pity in their faces that she tried to ignore. The Doctor was slumped in the captains seat, looking defeated. He looked up when he heard her enter and offered her a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Everything alright?" he asked.

Rose nodded. "Fine. Everything's fine. I was just wondering. Barcelona?"

The Doctor shook his head. Why did people keep asking him about places beginning with B today?

He wasn't really expecting Rose to stay. Amy had told him she was acting odd when she was going into her bedroom. When the Doctor told her and Rory their story, from gripping her hand and whispering "Run" in a basement to the second goodbye at Bad Wolf Bay, Rory and Amy had stayed silent. But when he told them she had just lost her metacrisis Doctor, Amy had almost slapped him for dragging her back to this universe with him.

"_Don't you think she'll need time to recover? Twit!"_ She had hissed.

So he was expecting Rose would ask to be dropped home, maybe to Mickey, maybe to the Estate she had grown up in. He was hating himself more every minute for convincing her to leave Pete, Jackie and Tony.

"What about Barcelona?" he answered in a defeated tone.

"Just saying.. The planet. We never went, in the end."

The Doctor looked up at her, hardly daring to believe it. A wide smile was on her face, the first proper smile he had seen her wear for far too long.

"Don't you- aren't you tired anymore?" he asked, feeling his face split into a smile.

She shook her head. "Me? Nah! Come on, you promised me the stars!"

"Oh, Rose Tyler!" The Doctor jumped out of the chair, spinning around before twisting the knobs and pressing the buttons on his ship. He felt as though both his hearts would burst from happiness."There's so many places you need to see! Did I tell you, I found a planet that smells like freshly cut grass all year round?"

"My favourite!" Rose laughed, bounding up the steps to the console to watch him steer the ship.

"I know!" the Doctor replied in an excited tone. "Rory got hayfever when we went! It was great!"

Rory rolled his eyes, subconsciously grabbing on to Amy as the ship shuddered as they began to take off.

"Yeah, Doctor, remember that was the planet we got sentenced to death on for stepping on the emperor?" he said as the whole TARDIS began to shake.

"How was I to know the entire population were sentient ants? Anyway we got away didn't we?"

Rose let out an exhilerated laugh. The TARDIS began it's noise- the sound of the universe. Rose hadn't even realised how much she had missed it until she heard it again. As she gripped tight to the console, the Doctor grinning maniacally at her, she felt that same burst of happiness.

London seemed a million miles away. Pete's World and Torchwood seemed even further than another Universe away. But her Doctor had never seemed closer.

Rose Tyler. In the TARDIS. With her Pond.

Three of them now, by the looks of it.

This was the start of something new.


End file.
